


i've had practice selling hope

by surviving_and_thriving



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, StarKid Productions RPF, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Alcohol Abuse, Child Abuse, F/M, Gen, He wants to help, They need it, autistic! hannah, bi! ethan, bi! lex, by the end they get that hug!!!, i am...not okay after that musical, someone give these kids a fat ass hug, tom is doing his best, various substances are abused both by adults and children, y'all can have a little found family. as a treat, you can pry nd hannah out of my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:27:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23024011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surviving_and_thriving/pseuds/surviving_and_thriving
Summary: five times ethan and lex took care of each other and one time they let someone else helptitle is from califorM.I.A.
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Ethan Green & Tom Houston, Hannah Foster & Ethan Green, Hannah Foster & Lex Foster, Lex Foster & Ethan Green, Lex Foster & Tom Houston, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 32
Kudos: 254





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> hi friends! black friday absolutely DESTROYED me! what about y'all! send help! i've been crying for, like, three days straight!
> 
> anyway, i hope y'all like this :)
> 
> lmk what you think, i am a slut for kudos and comments

Ethan hasn't eaten in three days. He also hasn't slept in two days. But neither of these things mattered to him right now.

The only thing that matters was the fact he needed to pass this Biology exam or his mom would have his head. 

After he brought home a grade of 67% on the last exam, his mom told him that any grade lower than an A and he wouldn’t be allowed back in the house. And, to quote that TV show Lex was low-key obsessed with (but didn’t want to admit because Lex was too  _ cool _ to actually like anything), winter is coming. Even though he had done it before, Ethan does not want to sleep outside when it starts snowing.

So, for the past few days, Ethan has gone to work in the morning, gone to school during the day, picked Hannah up, dropped her off at Lex’s, gone home, and studied. And studied. And studied. 

Ethan doesn’t even know if his mom even noticed how much work he was putting into this exam. He likes to pretend that he doesn’t really care about what his mom thinks, but he at least wanted her to acknowledge the fact that her son existed outside of strictly punishing him.

Ever since his dad had up and left, she had retreated further into her own head; Ethan only matters when he fucked up. Ethan supposes it’s better to have a mom like his than a mom like Lex’s who actively hits her and Hannah. At least his mom didn’t do that. Yet.

But, the only solid food in the kitchen is a few loaves of moldy bread Ethan hasn’t gotten around to tossing yet (he doesn’t want to waste food because he doesn’t get paid for a few more days) and the only other semi-edible thing in the kitchen is bottles and bottles of various alcohols Ethan swore he would never drink, after seeing what it does to his mom. And Ethan is tired and hungry.

Ethan doesn’t even know where his mom is half the time. She says she’s working “around,” but she never buys anything; she uses Ethan’s salary from the Cineplex for alcohol and drugs.

His mom hadn’t always been this way. Ethan still remembers when she would sit with him at the kitchen counter, slaving over algebra problems or cooking food.

It wasn’t like that anymore and Ethan needs to get it through his head that the mom he knew was gone. But it’s hard. He already lost his dad, he doesn’t want to lose his mom as well.

Ethan shakes himself out of his head. Biology. He needs to focus on Biology.

He stares at his notes, the words swimming around on the page in front of his eyes. Lex had told him, once, that the reason he could never make sense of the words on the pages in front of him was that he probably had dyslexia, but neither one of his parents managed to get him to a doctor before it all went to shit. So, he just deals with it.

Unsurprisingly, he breaks five minutes later, slamming his head into his textbook and muttering a string of curses that would make any good person blush.

He reaches for his phone to call Lex, the tightness in his chest releasing when she picks up.

“Hey, Lex. I’m just calling to inform you that I am bequeathing all of my worldly possessions to Hannah. This is my last will and testicle. Wait, testament.”

“Ethan,” and Ethan smiles when he can hear the smile in her voice when she says his name, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just studying for the bio exam tomorrow. I’ve been diagramming anatomically correct sexual organs for, like, three hours.”

“Oh, Mr. Green,” Lex adopts a ridiculous falsetto. “You know just how to turn a lady on. Anatomically correct diagramming of sexual organs.”

“Shut up, Foster,” I bet you haven’t even started studying.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I forgot it was a thing. I’m planning on failing and hiding the grade from my mom.”

Ethan wishes it could be as simple as just hiding his grades from his mom.

“Need me to come over then, Lex, and help you study?”

“Ethan, I love you, I really do,’ his heart jumps at those words, “but neither one of us is terribly good at science.”

“Can I still come over, though? Maybe you can help  _ me _ .”

Ethan did not want to admit it, but he just didn’t really want to be home when his mom came back from fuck-knows-where.

The slight desperation must have bled through in his voice, however.

“Ethan, you know you’re always welcome over here. My mom isn’t here and I’m about to put Banana down for the night, so we can watch a movie or something?”

“I’ll be there soon. I’m walking, so it may take a minute.”

“I’ll keep the lights on.”

“I’m still going to bring my Bio stuff. I do actually need to do decently on this test.”

“Nerd. Be safe.”

She hangs up the phone and Ethan immediately feels the lack of Lex.

Everyone they talk to assumes they are dating, but Lex has made it plenty clear that the only person she truly loves is Hannah; she only has room for Hannah in her heart.

Ethan is okay with her decision most of the time. He loves Hannah a lot too and knows that she will always have the number one place in her heart. After all, Lex has basically had to raise her younger sister; it only makes sense that Hannah would be the only person Lex cares about.

Sometimes, though, Ethan allowed himself to feel selfish. He wanted Lex to like him the way he liked her. Ethan never let himself dwell too long on those feelings, though. His friendship with Lex was more important. She really was the only person he felt happy and safe around.

He begins to shove his books and notes into his backpack and is about to head out the door before he remembers the rubber bracelets he wanted to give to Hannah.

Ever since her Autism diagnosis, he and Lex had been searching for a stim toy that Hannah liked. Lex’s latest attempt, a small stuffed animal, had not been received well, so Ethan had done some Googling on his own. 

He had a plethora of old band bracelets from his unfortunate emo phase a few years (Lex never fails to mock him for it; Ethan tries to block out the fact that it happened) earlier and he wanted to see if Hannah liked any of them.

He dashes up the stairs to his room and snatches the bracelets from the top of his dresser. 

On his way back down the stairs, he hears another door open in the house and freezes.

His mom is back. Shit.

Ethan slowly makes his way down the stairs and pauses when he and his mom make eye contact.

Her eyes are unfocused, but she doesn’t reek of alcohol like she normally does, so Ethan doesn’t know what she’s on. He isn’t sure he wants to know.

A smile spreads across her face and Ethan’s heart sinks.

“So,” and, oh god, even her words are slurred. “You’ve got a big test tomorrow and you aren’t even studying?”

“Mom, I -”

She lurches forward and grabs his arm.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear any excuses. I know you’re dumb as shit, but I thought you would be putting in a little effort.”

Ethan pulls against her arm, stammering out an explanation.

“I’ve been studying, Mom. You just -”

He slips out of her grasp and gets halfway out of the front door before he feels her grab his backpack.

She yanks back and his head hits the door. Hard.

Stars flash in front of his eyes, but he blinks them away and pulls free from his mom’s grip.

She calls after him, “don’t you fucking come back, Ethan Green, if you fail that fucking test. I don’t want to see you.”

Ethan runs harder than he’s ever run in any P.E. class and makes it to Lex’s in less than twenty minutes.

He pounds on the door, momentarily forgetting that Lex told him that Hannah was going to sleep, but he can feel blood running down the back of his neck and his head hurts and he just wants Lex.

She opens the door, clearly about to yell at him for being loud, but when she sees him, all she does is gasp.

“Ethan, what the fuck? Are you okay?”

“My mom came back.”

Lex’s hands probe the back of his head and find the gash from where he hit his head.

“Does this hurt, Ethan?”

He waves his hands vaguely, “I don’t know. Think I probably have a concussion or something. My head hurts.”

“I bet,” she pulls him inside. “Sit on the couch. I’m going to go get some shit to help.”

She leads him to the old, beat-up couch, essentially carrying him. As soon as he saw Lex, all the adrenaline in his system had flooded out, leaving him in pain and just plain exhausted. 

“Stay awake, Ethan. I’ll be right back.”

He nods in response, but every time he blinks, it gets harder and harder to open his eyes again.

He feels Lex’s hands in his hair before he processes that she is sitting next to him, which he thinks should scare him, but he can’t remember how to be afraid.

“Jesus, Ethan, this is a lot of blood.”

“I hit the door. With my head. She pulled me into it.”

“Shit.”

He nods, agreeing with her.

She cleans the blood off the back of his head and quizzes him on body parts for the upcoming test to keep him awake.

It doesn’t help much; he gets a B on the test.

He doesn’t go home for a week.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello, in honor of the shitshow that is Covid-19, have a lil sickfic, as a treat (lol they get the flu in this, nothing serious)
> 
> thank you all for the kind words you left on the last chapter. it means a lot to me :)
> 
> now starring!:   
> \- my copious use of semicolons and italics  
> \- the smoke club kidz tm  
> \- my undying love for all these characters

Lex was pretty sure she was dying. Her head hurt, her body ached all over, and, if the thermometer she stuck under her tongue this morning was to be believed, she was running a pretty high fever. So, yeah. Dying.

It made sense that she felt this way; over the past few days, almost a third of the kids at the high school had been sent home from classes with a myriad of symptoms, from fevers to stomach aches. Flu season hit Hatchetfield hard.

The county had debated on canceling schools until the number of flu cases went down, but, and Lex was glad of the decision (it meant she didn’t have to stay at home with her mom), the system had ultimately decided to keep the schools open for the foreseeable future. 

Unfortunately, it meant that the teachers were still assigning homework, tests, and quizzes like their lives depended on it. So, Lex trudges her way to school, despite the mounting fever.

She can’t afford another absence. Lex likes to stockpile her absences (the high grants each student seven unexcused ones before she has to start bringing in notes from doctors) in case Hannah has a bad day and needs to stay home.

The walk to school seems like it takes approximately seventeen forevers and a half, but, eventually, she pushes the doors to the high school open. She manages to slide into her seat before the bell to homeroom rings, just barely avoiding being counted as absent. Success. 

Thank god Hannah had a carpool for school today because Le was not entirely sure she would have survived the walk to Hannah’s school, as well as the walk to her own.

She drops her head down on her desk, only moving to raise her hand when the teacher calls her name during attendance. 

_ God, _ she feels awful.

Once the teacher is done with the roll and has made his way to the back of the classroom, Lex feels a hand drop on her shoulder.

She tips her head to the side, her cheek still pressed against and makes eye contact with Alice.

“Jesus,” Alice starts. “Lex, you look awful.”

“Thanks, Al. I feel worse.”

“Why on _ earth  _ did you come today? The chem test got moved.”

“Really? Thank fuck, I didn’t study at all,” Lex rolls her head back so her nose is squashed flat on the table. “I still have a huge presentation in shop. We gotta like, display our portfolio so far or whatever.”

“Gross,” Alice says.

Lex nods in agreement. Gross indeed.

“Anyway, Deb just texted me. Apparently, there’s only, like ten people in her class.”

Lex’s head shoots up and Alice’s eyes narrow.

Ethan is in Deb’s homeroom. She wants to ask Alice about him, but Lex isn’t sure she can deal with Alice’s teasing when she feels this shitty. Lex can’t even figure her own emotions towards Ethan out, how was she supposed to explain them to Alice. 

Lex diverts instead.

“Wait, seriously? Aren’t there supposed to be, like thirty?”

“Yeah. Deb says the whole cheerleading team got sick. And like half the football team. Wonder how  _ that  _ one happened,” Alice says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“That’s crazy.”

Alice hums in response, typing a message on her phone.

Abruptly, another fact from Alice’s statement processes in Lex’s mind.

“Alice,” Lex says, suddenly feeling a little more energetic. Teasing Alice was her second-favorite past-time at school (the first being making Ethan laugh). “Did you say that  _ Deb _ texted you. Deb, the super hot girl from your art class. Deb, the girl you have been trying to flirt with, unsuccessfully, I may add, for the last month.  _ That  _ Deb?”

Alice flips her off, but the blush that raises on her cheeks is answer enough.

“Alice, what the  _ fuck _ ?”

“Language, Ms. Foster!” the teacher yells at Lex from across the room.

Lex drops her head back onto her arms, the energy spike draining away as fast as it hit her.

“I’m gonna take a nap,” she mumbles into the desk.

Alice rubs her back.

“I’ll wake you before homeroom ends.”

“I owe you my whole life, Alice.”

“Go to sleep.”

Lex takes the most unsatisfying nap of her life during homeroom, then proceeds to sleep through the rest of her classes, barely dragging her body from desk to desk across the school campus.

Ethan isn’t in any of her classes, but that normally doesn’t stop him from visiting her during the school day.

She knows he is at school because, when he isn’t, people always ask her where he is (the same thing happens in reverse when she isn’t there; Ethan takes great pride in spinning wild tales to explain her absence).

So Lex is a little on edge when she walks into the cafeteria and she still hasn’t seen him.

She slumps down in one of the seats at her normal table, taking great pride in the fact the only felt slightly nauseous when the smell of food hit her senses.

Alice drops in the seat next to her and then, to Lex’s surprise, Deb and two of her friends drop down in the seats across from them.

Now  _ that’s  _ a new development. When Lex feels okay enough to put together a coherent string of thoughts, she is  _ never  _ going to let Alice live this down.

Lex is ninety percent sure that Deb introduces her friends, but Lex can’t exactly get her mind to process the words coming out of her mouth.

She sort of fades in and out, until Alice’s voice breaks her out of it.

“You still alive down there, Lex?” Alice’s voice filters through her hazy thoughts.

Lex gives her a half-hearted thumbs up from her position.

“If you wanna look semi-functional by the time Ethan gets to this table, I’d suggest not being face-down. I just ain’t acute look,” Alice says.

Lex wants to hate Alice for the comment, but she hates the fact that she sits up and tries to smooth her hair down more.

Alice smirks at her, but all Lex has to do is give Alice a  _ look _ , nodding her head towards Deb, to shut her up.

Ethan drops in the seat on the other side of Lex and Lex has to try  _ really  _ hard not to sink into his side like she does every time they watch a movie, curled up on the shitty couch that Ethan swears is older than time itself.

However, Lex sits straight up when she hears the round of deep coughs that come from Ethan’s mouth instead of his normal greeting.

And,  _ holy shit _ , Ethan looks worse than she feels. He is far paler than normal (a hard feat for someone already so pale), but there is a flush of red that sits high on his cheekbones. His eyes are glossy and sunken in, but Lex can’t tell if there are dark circles around his eyes or if he just has another black eye (Ethan says they’re from fighting, but Lex knows they are courtesy of his mom).

“Oh my god,” is all Lex manages to get out, before Ethan is turning away to cough into his arm again.

When Ethan can breathe normally again, he rasps out a weak, “I’m fine,” but Lex just grabs his arm and drags him out of the lunchroom so they can talk.

She shoots an apologetic look over her shoulder towards Alice, but Alice just shakes her head and rolls her eyes at the two of them, gives Lex a similar  _ look _ to the one Lex gave her earlier and turns back to stare at Deb like she hung the moon.

Ethan and Lex barely manage to make it to the wall outside their next class before the two of them collapse, breathing far harder than their short walk warranted.

Lex tries to press her hand to Ethan’s forehead to gauge his temperature, she knows he has one because his curly bangs are stuck to his head with sweat, but he pushes her hand away.

“Lex, I can tell you feel like shit. You have a fever, too, and you aren’t gonna be able to figure out if I have one if you’re already running hot.”

She groans at him, hating his logic, but presses her hand to his forehead anyway.

When Ethan raises his eyebrows, she just waves her other hand in his general direction.

“It’ll make me feel better to pretend to be checking up on you. So, shush,” she retorts.

Ethan just rolls his eyes, but he smiles at her in the way that makes her feel warm and happy and safe.

When, as Ethan predicted, she can’t tell if he is running a fever or not, she gives in to the temptation and slumps into his side. He slings his arm around her and, for the first time all day, she relaxes, her eyes sliding closed. She feels Ethan lean his head onto hers and can feel his breath evening out. 

A bell jolts her out of a sleep she didn’t even realize she had dropped into. By the way Ethan flinches next to her, he had fallen asleep as well.

She pushes herself off the floor and takes a bit longer than she’d like to admit to steady herself, before offering a hand to Ethan, who was looking more feverish as he tried to figure out just exactly how to stand up.

When they are both on their feet, it takes Ethan a worrying amount of time to find his balance, they make their way to shop, the one class they share.

Lex has big plans for pretending she is okay in a shop. Mr. Houston is the only teacher who really pays attention to her or Ethan, so she knows she can’t get away with sleeping through the class as she has with all her other classes today.

However, and Lex bets it is because she and Ethan are leaning on each other like they wouldn’t be able to stand upright if they were separated (she actually isn’t sure if they’d be able to), Mr. Houston takes one look at them and points back to the hallway.

“Nurse, now.”

Ethan makes a noise of protest, trying to vocalize something about the presentation today, but Mr. Houston physically pushes them into the hallway, telling them he would let them make it up once they felt better.

Ethan makes it about another three feet towards the nurse’s office before he stops dead in his tracks.

“I can’t go to the nurse,” he mumbles, his unfocused eyes directed at the ground.

Lex’s eyebrows furrow, but she doesn’t say anything, waiting for Ethan to continue.

“She’d call home and my mom told me not to come back until I wouldn’t get her sick.”

Lex lets out a quiet, but heartfelt, “bitch” under her breath, before composing herself enough to speak.

“We can just ditch and go back to mine. I have no fucking clue where my mom is, but she isn’t there and that’s all that matters.”

The pair manages to sneak out a back door and, by some miracle, survive the walk to the trailer park.

Lex slumps against the door, sliding down to sit on the ground while she rummages around in her backpack for the keys.

She fishes them out and passes them up to Ethan who, against all odds, has remained standing.

He gets the door open and both of them make a beeline for Lex’s bed.

They collapse on it, exhausted.

Lex pulls out her phone, meaning to text Alice and ask if she can pick Hannah up from school and drop her at Lex’s home, but sees that the other girl has already sent a message.

_ hey lex, saw you and ethan ditching and heading home ;) i talked to my dad and he’s chill  _ _ with us watching han for a bit while you get better :) i dont, and im sure you dont, want  _ _ her getting sick. if thats ok, i’ll stop by tonight and grab some clothes and other stuff for  _ _ her. did you and ethan go to your house? i also wanna make sure you’re alive still _

Lex huffs a laugh and manages to type a response, even though the letters are kind of swimming in front of her eyes.

_ i do not deserve u the world does not deserve you i love you _

_ me n eth are at my house pls come make sure we're alive tonight _

_ i owe you _

Alice responds immediately.

_ love you, too lex _

_ dont do anything i wouldnt ;)))))) _

Lex hates her. Only she doesn’t.

She tosses her phone to the ground and relaxes back on the mattress.

From his breathing, she can tell that Ethan has already fallen asleep, but when she settles down next to him, he still wraps his arms around her and pulls her close.

Lex doesn’t want to admit that it makes her happy, but it does.

She falls asleep feeling safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stay healthy and safe, pals! also, shout-out to the fact that my college is, like, the only one from the state of alabama that hasn't switched to online classes yet! send help!
> 
> ily u all <3
> 
> come yell with me on my tumblr https://rabrooks34.tumblr.com/


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why is all my best work done at approximately 2 am? the world may never know
> 
> also happy april fools. i hate this holiday, nothing i post will ever be a joke
> 
> i hope you are all staying safe. i'm sending good vibes/prayers/whatever yall want in your direction. you are all in my thoughts at all times <3 pls read the end notes, if you can. got some special news for y'all :)
> 
> here's a lil chappie to ease the boredom of this quarantine 
> 
> // tw: anxiety/panic attack and use of the word psycho  
> i based the panic attack on my own experiences, so this is not an accurate universal

It was fine. Lex was fine. She just couldn't breathe too great right now. But, it would be fine.

She’s always managed to get herself through these before.

She closes her eyes and tries to steady her breathing. Slow breaths. 

It wasn’t working. Her breaths kept getting shorter and shorter and _oh, my god_ , she _still_ can’t breathe. 

She slams her head back against the wall of the bathroom stall. 

_Oh, bad plan, Lex_ , she thinks as her vision darkens more than it already had.

She fists her shaking hands in her hair. _Deep breaths, deep breaths_.

No matter what she tells herself, she just _isn’t_ calming down. Her breaths keep getting faster and her heart is beating faster and her hands are sweaty and and and.

“Lex,” a girl’s voice breaks through her haze. “Lex, are you in here? Class started a few minutes ago and Alice mentioned that you really shouldn’t miss more class because of the truancy thing-”

Lex’s brain finally placed the voice. Deb, Alice’s brand-spanking-new girlfriend. Alice had called her crying after Deb had said yes (as if she would say anything different; Alice was a total steal).

“Yeah, I’m in here,” Lex says, doing her very best to disguise the fact that her voice was thick with tears. She fails miserably.

Lex hears a little tap against the stall door.

“Are you okay? Do I need to get someone? Like Ethan?” Deb pauses for a second, then continues, “Wait, nevermind, Ethan isn’t in class with Alice; I just asked her. Can I take you to the nurse? Or something?”

Lex lets out a shaky breath. She did not want to leave this bathroom stall. No one could see her crying and no one could ask her what was wrong.

“I’ll be out in, like, five minutes. Mr. Carvour can suck it. I’ll email him later to let him know I wasn’t feeling well and that I went to the nurse.” Lex responds, after taking a second to collect herself.

“For sure,” Deb replies. “And, Lex, you can text me or Alice if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Deb,” Lex pauses, she doesn’t exactly want to be alone right now, but she doesn't want Deb to get in trouble either. “You should get back to class. No need for both of us to get counted as absent.”

“Nah, I’m gonna go smoke with Danny. I’ve got, like, a 98 in history right now; all I need to do is make an appearance and I get credit for the day,” Deb snorts, “Carvour loves me, for some fucking reason. We’ll be on the roof over the gym until school lets out and I give Alice a ride home.”

Lex doesn’t miss the obvious invitation. She appreciates it. Deb and the rest of the “Smoke Club” (that’s what Alice calls Deb’s friends; Lex thinks it’s silly, but whatever, it makes them happy) don’t even really know her, but they’ve been nothing but welcoming to her and Ethan since Deb and Alice started talking.

It’s nice to meet nice people for a change.

Lex taps her fingernail against the stall door as a goodbye.

“Thank you, Deb.”

Deb hums a goodbye in response and Lex can hear her shoes shuffle out of the bathroom.

When Lex is sure Deb is gone, Lex lets out a shaky breath and swipes her hand across her eyes to get rid of the tears.

Lex pulls herself off the floor and opens the door. 

She is greeted by the sight of her reflection in the mirror. _Wow_ , she looks awful.

Her hair is all tangled and ratty, her eyes are red and inflamed, and, to top it off, she has bitten through her lip trying not to make any noise while crying in the fucking school bathroom, so there’s blood smeared around her mouth.

Her mom is a bitch.

At her last visit, Hannah’s pediatrician had recommended that Hannah see a psychiatrist. He had thought that it was a little suspicious that Hannah still had such animated and detailed conversations with Webby, her imaginary spider friend, and wanted her to be checked for early-onset schizophrenia. 

The doctor had said it was incredibly rare for children under thirteen to be diagnosed, but he wanted Hannah to be screened, just in case, because if she could start seeing a therapist early, it would improve her outcome. He had also recommended Lex see the same psychiatrist for these attacks she kept having, but, with her work salary, Lex could only afford one copay. 

She chose Hannah’s.

Apparently, her mom had received the results earlier today, because Lex had received an incredibly angry text message from her mother that just said, _call me_ , which was never good.

Lex had ducked out of lunch, stealing a fry off Alice’s plate, dismissing her questioning look with a wink, her hands shaking in her pockets as they fumbled with her phone.

Ethan had tried to follow her (he never ate during lunch, so he tended to go where she went), but she waved him off.

Lex knew she should have told Ethan what was going on, but he already had so much trouble with his mom and he already did so much to help with Hannah.

She was also scared he would decide schizophrenia was simply too much and leave.

When Lex dialed her mom, she had immediately been greeted with screaming so loud she pulled the phone away from her ear (she thought people only did that in comics, apparently all it took was a furious mom).

Her mom had berated her for multiple things. Who said abuse couldn’t be varied?

She was yelled at for doing something without her mother’s permission. She was yelled at for being the family screw-up. She had been yelled at for wasting money taking Hannah to a “fucking mind doctor” when “everyone knew Hannah was psycho and doomed.”

Her mother had yelled at her because Hannah had been diagnosed and the doctor’s wanted her to start weekly therapy and start trialing medication. Which would, obviously cost money. And her mom had been more concerned about money than her daughter’s mental state.

Her mom had told her that, because she was the one to take Hannah to the psychiatrist, Lex would be the one to pay for Hannah’s treatment. 

Lex didn’t have that kind of money, but Hannah deserved to get the best treatment.

After her mom hung up, Lex’s breath had picked up and hadn’t calmed down until Deb walked into the bathroom.

Lex splashes water onto her face, taking the deep breaths she couldn’t take earlier.

When she feels ready, she walks out of the bathroom. Directly into Mr. Houston.

_Fuck_ , the one teacher she can’t fool.

“Lex?” Mr. Houston is confused, obviously, but she can hear the concern in his voice and it makes tears prick back up in her eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be in history right now?”

Lex keeps her head down. If Mr. Houston can’t see her face, he can’t tell that she’s been crying.

“Yeah, I’m on my way there.”

She’s lying; she wants to go get high with Deb and forget everything for a few hours.

His hand on her shoulder stops her.

“What’s wrong, Lex?”

As a response, she just bursts back into tears.

Mr. Houston’s hands flutter around wildly while he tries to figure out what to do. He looks terrified and if Lex wasn’t bawling in the school hallway, she would laugh. This man has a child but doesn’t know what to do when a kid cries.

In the end, Mr. Houston settles for pulling her towards his classroom. At least she won’t be crying in the open anymore.

When she gets to his classroom, she collapses in one of the chairs, bracing her arms on her legs and dropping her head to her knees, trying to catch her breath, while also crying harder than she has before.

Mr. Houston still looks terrified, his hand awkwardly over her back. He finally drops it on her shoulder and squeezes it. Lex thinks it’s supposed to comfort her, but her teacher is so damn awkward, it’s just weird.

“Can I get you anything, kid?”

Lex shakes her head, but mimes drinking water, before dropping her head back down, hoping Mr. Houston got the hint.

He must have, because a few moments, he holds a water bottle out to her.

She takes the bottle, pretending she can’t see how bad her hands are shaking.

She doesn’t take a sip, however, because she. Still. Can’t. Breathe.

She can see Mr. Houston typing something on his phone, but she can’t make herself focus on him. Or focus on anything but breathing, really.

She can hear his voice filter through the fog that is her mind and recognizes that he’s talking to the office, but all she really catches is that he is looking for someone.

“Seriously?” Lex hears Mr. Houston say, “He’s there? I was about to go there. Perfect timing. Can you let Becky know we’ll be there in a second? Thanks.”

She sees him slide his phone back into his pocket, then all of a sudden, he was in her line of sight.

“C’mon, Lex, let’s go to the nurse’s office.”

She lets her teacher essentially manhandle her into a standing position before they slowly make their way to the nurse’s office.

Mr. Houston gets her through the door, but she freezes when she sees that Ethan is sitting in one of the chairs, sipping on a drink.

His eyes widen and he pushes himself out of the chair, brushing off Nurse Barnes’ hand when she tries to force him back down.

He collects her from Mr. Houston’s arms and he seems to ask the two adults with his eyes to leave for a few minutes. 

They seem to understand, because all of a sudden, they’re alone.

Ethan knees down in front of her, his eyes full of concern.

“Lex?” 

“I can’t breathe. Ethan, I can’t, I can’t-” her hands are fluttering around her chest, trying to get him to understand that she can’t get any air in; she’s suffocating.

He grabs her hands, quieting them, before leaning forward and pressing their lips together.

Lex’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t do anything but lean into the kiss.

When Ethan pulls back, he looks scared, but Lex couldn’t care.

She can breathe again.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan starts, but Lex cuts him off by kissing him again.

“Shut up,” she mumbles against his mouth. “You make me feel safe.”

When they break apart, Ethan’s cheeks are flushed.

“I’m sorry,” he tries again, but once again Lex cuts him off.

“No, I liked it. I’ve wanted to do that for a while. Why now, though?”

“I saw it on TV. You know, _Teen Wolf_?”

“Stupid show,” she laughs.

“Oh, hush, Foster. Saved your ass, didn’t it?”

And she can’t really argue with that.

He offers her his hand and pulls her off the floor.

He opens his mouth, probably to ask about why she was on the floor sobbing, but she raises a hand as if to say “later.” He understands.

As they go to leave, Lex suddenly processes where, exactly, they are.

“Wait, Ethan, why the hell are you in the nurse’s office?”

He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. 

“Forgot to eat breakfast. Passed out after lunch. Nurse Barnes gave me a banana and I had some apple juice. No biggie.”

Lex knew there was a bigger picture behind that story (probably Ethan missing a little more than breakfast), but she also recognized that Ethan was picking his battles with her. So she would do the same.

She pushes open the door, before turning and addressing him.

“Ask me for lunch food next time, Green.”

He gasps, theatrically, “you know I’d never take food from a lady, Foster.”

She bumps his shoulder, as they pass Mr. Houston and Nurse Barnes in the hall.

He starts to head toward the side they normally take, but Lex redirects him to the P.E. closet that has access to the roof over the gym.

Ethan doesn’t question it, just following her.

Later, on the roof, halfway through the blunt Deb passed her without any words and a small smile, she tells him through exhales of smoke.

“Hannah has schizophrenia and my mom won’t pay for therapy or meds.”

“Need any of my Cineplex money?” is all he says in response.

“Ethan, I can’t take that from you.”

“I’d rather you have it than my mom. It’d go to a better cause than booze.”

Lex tries not to show the shock on her face. She didn’t know his mom was taking all his money.

Ethan turns to her, smiles and grabs her hand in his.

Lex thinks she loves him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peep my spies are forever reference hehe. 10 points to whoever finds it
> 
> hi pals, in all seriousness, i mentioned it earlier, but i want y'all to know that if i can help in any way (special fic request, prayer, vibe, whatever i can do to help), please let me know. this is awful for everyone and i want to do what i can to help ease y'alls struggles. as a writer, i can't do much, but i can provide a momentary distraction. for me, reading has always been my place of my escape and i am leaning heavily on the writers on this website that never fail to provide so much free reading. i want to do that for y'all.
> 
> i love you all so much. stay healthy :)
> 
> my tumblr: https://rabrooks34.tumblr.com/  
> y'all can talk to me there or, if you want, you can dm me on insta (ask on tumblr first tho haha). i am here for you <3


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again, so sorry for vanishing. school is handing me my ass on a silver platter and nothing is okay in the world. But i come bearing this shitty lil chapter and hope that takes some of the miserableness away.
> 
> also please help me come up with ideas for the next scenario; i am drawing a blank.
> 
> as always, i love you all and i am here whenever y'all need anything :)
> 
> tw//underage drinking

Lex was worried.

Ethan, who was infinitely cooler than she was, had been invited to the house of one of the graduating seniors for an end-of-the-year party and, as he always did, had dragged Lex along as his plus one.

Lex usually never understood why Ethan brought her to these things. She was almost always the only sober person there, as she normally needed to take care of Hannah the next day, but Hannah was at an intensive weekend therapy session, paid for so kindly by the money Ethan stole off whatever man was sleeping with his mom that week, so she was free for the whole weekend.

Which meant she was going to get blackout.

She and Ethan had enough first-hand experience with alcohol that they knew when it was time to stop, or at least when they were reaching the end of their limits. 

Ethan actually never really drank to get drunk. When he was younger, he had sworn to never drink, but once he figured out that he could take several shots and stop feeling that plan went right out the window.

He usually only had a few beers at parties like this. Lex was the only person who he ever really let see him plastered.

Tonight, however, that rule seemed to have gone out of the window.

Lex had planned a pre-game at a hangout in an old public park that she, Ethan, Deb, Alice, and some of Deb’s friends frequented, and Ethan had shown up with two shot glasses, stated that this was going to be bad, and started downing shots.

By the time that the rest of the Smoke Club, as the group called themselves (Lex hated it; it made them sound like cliche stoners from a cheesy 80s coming-of-age movie), had shown up, Ethan was properly drunk and Lex was well on her way, as well.

Hey, she wasn’t going to let Ethan drink like that alone. Misery demands company.

Ethan never told her exactly what made him start slamming back shots like his life depended on it, but he mentioned it had something to do with his mom, and Lex was not going to touch that particular topic with a thirty-foot pole while they were both drunk.

They left Ethan’s car at the park. He could come back and get it tomorrow, he was not going to be the designated driver tonight.

By the time the group made it to the senior’s house (it was only a five-minute walk from the park), everyone was well and truly drunk.

The group split almost immediately. Alice and Deb made their way into one of the bedrooms that peppered the, frankly, enormous house. Lex shot Alice a rather pointed look, but Alice didn’t even turn around; she just flipped Lex off and pulled Deb into the room by the strings of her hoodie. 

The other, more stoner-types, in the group headed out to the back porch, where Lex could see smoke rings curling towards the sky.

She shook her head but came back to herself when she felt Ethan’s hand slip from hers. He headed over to a group of guys she recognized from their shop classes. Ethan nodded his head, in a silent invitation for her to join the game of pong they were setting up, but Lex shook her head. You could not pay her to drink shitty beer when there was free vodka available in the kitchen.

She wondered into the kitchen and found herself caught up in a debate between the other kids there about the nature of Mr. Houston and Nurse Barnes’ relationship. The students were split pretty evenly between the two dating and the two just being weirdly close friends until someone found the yearbook from when the two adults were in high school (the senior whose house this party was at must have parents who were alums of the school) and saw that Nurse Barnes was a cheerleader while Mr. Houston played football. 

That pretty much settled the debate and the students dispersed afterward. 

Lex scooped a healthy amount of the punch into her cup before heading back out to the den, where most of the party was happening.

Ethan smiled at her when she passed him, his eyes glazed over by alcohol, but looking more at peace than when he showed up at the pre-game. Lex smiled back, squeezing his arm to make him miss the shot he took. He batted her hand away, but all she did was laugh.

She spotted Deb and Alice, looking properly rumpled across the room and made her way to them.

They hung out and danced and the time seemed to pass faster with every new drink the trio got. Lex stayed until the host began kicking people out, which never normally happened. She, and Ethan, by extension, normally dipped out of these parties after only a few hours.

She picked up her boyfriend from the pong table and did not think about how many beer cans cluttered the floor by his feet. She was in no position to judge, as she had stopped counting her drinks when she stopped feeling her tongue.

The two of them made it outside and caught up with Deb and Alice. 

Their original plan had been to walk back to Alice’s house and crash there for the night, as it was close, but far enough for them to sober up a little on the walk.

However, they had all gotten a little drunker than they planned and no one could remember which direction Alice’s house was.

Alice was adamant about not calling her father; she did not want him to know how much alcohol she’d consumed. Bill was cool enough that he didn’t care what the kids did, as long as they were safe about it.

And normally they were. But it was the end of a really shitty school year for them all and they had wanted to have a little fun.

Alice made a little noise of triumph, drawing Lex’s attention to her. 

Alice, despite not wanting to call her father, had been scrolling through her contacts trying to find someone who would come pick them up.

“We can,” she started, slurring her words only a little (Lex was impressed; Alice had put away some serious alcohol tonight and still sounded remarkably put together). “We can get Emma to come to get us.”

“Who the fuck,” Deb did not sound as sober as Alice, “is Emma?”

“You know my dad,” she waved her hand for dramatic effect. “One of his work buddies, Paul, weird guy, but he used to babysit me, is dating the barista from Beanies. Name’s Emma.”

Everyone stared at Alice blankly. 

Alice huffed, “She’s nice and gave me her number for emergencies.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever, I just wanna go to bed,” Lex hoped she sounded as sober as Alice, but if Ethan’s smirk and raised eyebrows were anything to go off of, she probably sounded worse than Deb.

Alice nodded her head in confirmation and called Emma. She put the phone on speaker, so everyone heard Emma's eloquent greeting.

“What the fuck?”

“Hi Emma,” Alice stared, “it’s Alice, Bill’s daughter. You gave me your number for emergencies?”

“Yeah, hey kid. You good?”

Alice let out a sigh of relief when Emma recognized her.

“Um yeah, so me and some of my friends were at this party,”

Emma cut her off.

“Oh, I know where you are. I’ll be there in, like five minutes. Do you need rides home?”

Alice hummed a yes and Emma hung up.

Lex looked at Alice in shock.

Alice shrugged. 

“She was a troublemaker in high school. I bet she knew what was going on the second she heard ‘party’ and saw the date. Graduation is in two days, who wouldn’t be at a party.”

True to her word, Alice’s friend pulled up in a car that was somehow shittier than Ethan’s a few minutes later.

Deb, Alice, Lex, and Ethan crammed themselves into the car and directed Emma to Alice’s house.

Emma, blessedly, didn’t say anything or ask questions, only reassuring Alice that it was always okay to call her if needed.

Once there, Alice and Deb piled out. Lex made to get out, but when Ethan made no move to leave, she sunk back into her seat and nudged him with her shoulder.

“Ethan?” she prompted.

Ethan didn’t respond to her, instead addressing Emma.

“Would it be okay if you just went ahead and dropped me off at home? I don’t live too far away from here.”

Lex’s eyes widened because that was a lie, but Ethan refused to make eye contact with her. He did, however, grab her wrist in a silent plea for her to stay.

She squeezed his hand in confirmation and waved Alice and Deb, who had paused outside the car, telling them to go on and head inside. 

Deb looked confused, but Alice, understanding the look in Lex’s eyes, pulled her girlfriend into the house, shushing her as Deb opened her mouth to ask questions.

The world did not deserve Alice, Lex decided.

She climbed back in the car and Emma took off, again blessing them with her silence. She understood.

Ethan seemed to be giving random directions, but Lex soon realized he was taking them back towards the park where they had their pre-game and where they left Ethan’s truck.

If he tried to drive home, she was going to brain him with a large stick.

Ethan had Emma drop them off at a house on the corner about a block away from the park.

It was not his house; Lex had no clue whose house it was.

Ema waved goodbye and took off before they began the trudge up the pathway to the stranger’s house. 

Lex started to walk towards the house, but Ethan grabbed her and laughed.

“Do you know who lives here, Lex?”

“No,” she responded, confused. “I thought you did and that was why,”

He cut her off.

“Nah, just didn’t want Emma to drop us off at the park. She’d think I was trying to drive home.”

Lex let out a sigh of relief that Ethan wasn’t going to do that, but he did nothing to answer her questions.

He thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and heads off down the road to the park.

When they get there, Ethan boosts her into the bed of the truck and climbs in after her.

They lay next to each other, looking at the stars, the alcohol making them spin and sway in ways they don’t normally move, for a few moments, before Ethan breaks the silence.

“My mom kicked me out.”

Lex pushed herself up on her elbows, that one sentence sobering her up quicker than she thought possible.

“Ethan, what? Are you okay.”

“Yeah, it’s whatever. She said I was a burden to handle and that I was taking money away from rent. Like she ever paid rent, anyway. It was always my money. Glad to be out of there, though. I’ve been looking for a reason to get lost for a while now.”

Lex knew he was lying, but didn’t call him on it. Ethan loved his mom and always would. Ms. Green was nothing but a monster to her only child, but Ethan was too much of a good person to let it get to him.

“You can crash with us whenever you need,” she said, instead of calling his bullshit out. “Hannah loves sleepovers.”

He grins at her and it’s the first time all night she’s seen him ditch the cloud that’s been hanging over him.

He pulls some blankets out of the backseat and they curl up next to each other and watch the night sky.

She doesn’t know when they fall asleep but she does know that despite the blankets were far from heavy enough to keep them warm and the metal of the truck bed leaving bruises along her spine, Lex slept comfortably against her boyfriend. 

And she felt safe and loved. She hoped Ethan felt the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> offer still stands from the last chapter! if y'all want a free lil fic or anything, just dm me on tumblr (@rabrooks34) and let me know what you want. writers are providing so much to the world rn and i want to do anything i can to help make this whole situation a little less terrible.
> 
> ily y'all always <3


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy...how y'all doing?
> 
> so so sorry i vanished. the summer was totally bonkers in fucking yonkers, y'all and i barely had time to breathe, much less write (and tbh, i'm still a bit short on time), but i promise that i will finish this fic. it just might take a bit longer than expected.
> 
> i've got some decent time to write now, as i've been sent home from college because i was #exposed to the fun, funky, and fresh coronavirus, so yikes for that. at least i have time to write?

When Ethan showed up to school with one singular black glove, Lex had called it ridiculous and had joined in with Alice and Deb as they ribbed him and called him an obnoxious 80s movie wannabe main character. Ethan laughed and took it with his usual easy-going nature, but, because Lex has known him for quite literally his whole life, she could see that he was hiding something.

She could see it in the way his body tensed when one of their friends reached out to ruffle his hair or the involuntary shudder that he got when a teacher passed too close to him in the hallways. 

Lex spent all of her seventh-period psychology class scheming up a way to confront Ethan about this newest fashion choice that  _ has _ to be hiding something. She knows that she has to be delicate about it, because, when Ethan got cagey about something, he tended to get flighty. If she cornered him in an attempt to get him to confess, he’d bolt and she’d never get answers.

She was drawn out of her plans by a sharp knock on her desk.

“Ms. Foster, I asked you a question. Care enough to provide me with an answer?”

If looks could kill, her psych teacher, Mr. McDoon, would be in a pool of his own blood.

But Lex’s glares, although frightening, were not magic and so her teacher continued to look at her expectantly.

Lex raised an eyebrow before confidently giving an answer she knew was incorrect.

“The medulla oblongata?”

The reprimand she got was  _ almost  _ worth seeing the range of emotions as McDoon processed her answer to the question, “who was the founder of behaviorism?”

Almost, because now she had to stay after class and speak to her teacher, which would cut into the time she had budgeted for talking to Ethan before their shop class. She’d have to talk to him in class now, which was always an iffy time because, even though Ethan did not like school in any sense of the word, he loved the shop and could lose himself in whatever project he was working on without a second thought.

After a frankly uninspiring lecture from McDoon about her “potential” and how she was “bright, but just didn’t apply herself,” Lex found herself speed walking towards the shop room, hoping against all hope to get there before Ethan.

Lex was so lost in her thoughts she rammed straight into someone as she rounded the last corner before her destination. 

She spun around to unleash her fury at the person who had hit her but was stopped short when she realized that the person currently sprawled across the hallway floor was Ethan.

She shook her head with a laugh and offered a hand to help pull him up.

“You idiot! You just fucking plowed me over.”

Ethan, from his place on the ground, shook his bangs out of his eyes and started laughing.

“Well, Lex, if we’re going to get technical, you were on the wrong side of the hallway. In reality,  _ you _ hit  _ me _ .”

“I’m going to slap you if you don’t get up and make us late for shop again.”

Huffing, Ethan reached out with his newly gloved hand, absent-mindedly, grabbing Lex’s hand.

Before Ethan ripped his hand away from her, she felt something under the glove. Whatever was under his glove, that weird bubbling texture, clearly hurt when she had taken his hand.

Ethan, still on the ground, was curled around his hand, trying, and failing, to control his breathing; he probably didn’t want Lex to worry, the  _ idiot _ . That’s why he’s been acting so strange all day. He was in pain.

Ethan let out a small groan, but the sound was enough to jolt Lex from her thoughts. She dropped down onto her knees next to him, levering her smaller body under his to get him standing.

“C’mon, Ethan. Let’s get to the bathroom.”

She led him down the hall, before pushing him into the girl’s restroom at the end of the hall. Once inside, she deposited him on the floor, before checking that all the stalls were empty. After confirming that they were, indeed, alone, she slid down the wall opposite Ethan.

He looked up at her, confused, like he hadn’t processed the trip from the hall to the bathroom, which was, admittedly, a little worrying. All at once, it seemed to slam into him and he recognized just where he was.

“Wait, Lex no,” he started, before she cut him off.

“Shut up. Class is about to start and this is C Hall. No one comes down here because the bathroom on B Hall is so much nicer.”

“No, what about class? You can’t miss any more classes.”

“It’ll be fine. Mr. Houston literally does not give a shit. I think, as long as I didn’t kill someone, I could blow something up and he’d still give me an A.”

“That doesn’t mean you should skip his class, though.”

“Ethan,” she turned the full force of her state towards him. “I would like an explanation now, please and thank you.”

“It’s really nothing, Lex.”

“Yeah, and I’ll take that explanation without any bullshit.”

Sighing, he ran his good hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it had already been.

“I went home last night.”

“What the fuck, Ethan?”

He held his hand up, stopping her outburst short.

“My mom, she called me a few days ago. She told me that whatever guy had been crashing there, he had run off in the night. She didn’t have any food and she hadn’t eaten in a few days. She knows I have money and just needed food for the week. Until her next check came in.”

Throughout his explanation, he had kept his head down, curly hair covering his eyes. When he finished, he looked up and met her eyes, and whatever emotion he had in them made her heart break in half.

“Ethan,” Lex said, softly, “You don’t owe her anything.”

“I know!” he exclaimed. “I know. It’s just. She’s my mom, you know. And even though she kicked me out, she raised me. That has to count for something.”

“It doesn’t. She was a monster who hit you, Ethan.”

He stayed quiet for a long while, then, when he spoke up again, his voice was softer than she had ever heard it.

“I missed her, too, Lex. And I thought, maybe, you know, maybe if I go back, she’ll see she missed me.”

“Oh, Ethan.”

“So, I went and got groceries. Nothing too big or expensive or fancy. Just the basics. Mac ‘n cheese, cereal, bread. Just normal things that won’t go bad. And I went home to give them to her. And at first, she was happy and like, I thought it might be okay? But then she got to the mac ‘n cheese. I bought the ones I get for Hannah, you know the ones with the little shapes. I didn’t even realize I had done it, I guess it was just habit.

“So she sees those and starts flipping out. Like, if I had enough money to spend on something as stupid as shaped macaroni, I had more than enough to be helping her. And she kept going on about how selfish I was to leave her alone with all the bills and how she couldn’t go to the doctor because she couldn't afford insurance. And then, she grabbed my hand and, and -”

At this, Ethan paused, collecting himself and, unconsciously, pulling his hand into his chest, protectively.

Lex stayed quiet, only nodding to show she was still listening, letting Ethan set the pace at which he told his story.

“She just grabbed my hand and said ‘if you have enough money for silly food, you’ve got enough to pay the doctor for silly accidents’ and  _ slammed _ my hand onto the stove. It was turned on. And I got burned. And I really don’t have enough for the doctor, so I just wrapped it up. I didn’t want to worry anyone, so I just covered it. It’s fine.”

At that, he fell silent, his good hand messing with the bad. Lex also remained quiet, letting his story fully process.

She seethed in silence for a good moment, before deciding that her smashing her fist in the wall would not be conducive to the situation. Instead, she crawled across the small gap between her and Ethan, grabbing his gloved hand, carefully this time, and peeled the glove off.

“Jesus, Ethan,” she breathed out when she saw what lay underneath the fabric.

The entire palm of his hand was blistered and inflamed.

Immediately, she got up to get a wet paper towel. Pressing it to his hand, she kissed his cheek.

“Give me one second, I’ll be right back.”

“Lex, what?”

She didn’t stop to answer him, bolting out of the bathroom. 

Aiming for the nurse's office, she reached her destination in record time. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she knocked on the door.

Nurse Barnes’ voice came through the door.

“It’s open! Come on in!”

Lex pushed open the door and was met with the sight of Nurse Banes standing on a counter, a bemused football player seated on her examination table. 

“Hi, Nurse Barnes.”

“Lex! How are you? I’m just grabbing some KT tape, I’ll be right with you!”

“Actually, I’m okay, the problem isn’t me this time. Ethan burnt his hand during shop, so I came to grab some band-aids and burn shit, sorry, stuff, if you have it.”

“Oh no! I hope he’s okay,” she waved at Lex to come further into the office. “If you look in that blue tub behind the door, you should find all my burn stuff. Just take what you need.”

Lex located the tub, grabbed a bit of everything, then rushed out, calling a belated ‘thank you’ back into the office.

Armed with supplies, Lex made her way back to the bathroom where she left Ethan as quickly as she could.

With little ceremony, she dumped the supplies in his lap.

“We’re gonna fix you up better than any doctor could, okay?”

Ethan looked at her in silence before surging forward, crushing his lips to hers. When they broke apart, Ethan looked at her like she was the only person in the world that mattered. It was a look she wasn’t used to getting, but, as she was beginning to realize, Ethan always looked at her like that.

She moved forward to kiss him again, smiling when she felt, more than heard, Ethan thank her.

He would always be there for her, that was a fact she knew. She hoped he knew she would do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all are all doing better than i am!! and i hope you enjoyed this mediocre chapter. i am beyond sorry for being gone for so long

**Author's Note:**

> come scream with me on tumblr https://rabrooks34.tumblr.com/


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